Fire Cider Oxymel Helps Warm Up the Body and soothe scratchy throat!
Fire Cider Oxymel is my favorite recipe for colds and flu. I use it immediately when my throat starts to feel scratchy. Usually, I take a tablespoon of oxymel straight, not diluted in water. The taste is so intense! Sweet, sour, spicy, and hot all at once. If it’s too much for you or giving it to a child (older than two years old only), you can dilute it in water.
Another way to use Fire Cider is when you feel cold, are shivering, and nothing seems to warm you up. Whether it is the onset of an illness or you are just feeling cold, Fire Cider works wonders by warming you up. It disperses the heat from the center of the body to the periphery.
Lastly, you can use it preventively during the cold and flu season. Take a teaspoon daily in your tea, or add to a salad dressing instead of regular vinegar.
Health Benefits Of Apple Cider Vinegar:
- It has strong antimicrobial properties that can kill or inhibit the growth of many microorganisms
- The acetic acid in the vinegar helps improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar
- Stimulates the secretion of digestive juices, enhancing digestion and innate immunity
- High in potassium and other minerals, it can improve acid/alkaline balance in the body
Some people might be too sensitive to the acidity of apple cider vinegar and have an adverse reaction. Therefore, I like adding honey to my Fire Cider to mellow it. Honey improves the taste, dilutes the vinegar, and provides additional healing properties; see below. Herbal honey and vinegar mixtures are called oxymels.
Even with honey, however, the taste of Fire Cider remains quite hot and intense. If you’d like to make an immune-supporting recipe that kids would love, go for Elderberry Syrup or Honey and Onion Syrup.
Health Benefits Of Raw Honey
- Honey contains minerals, enzymes, several B vitamins, prebiotics, and antioxidants.
- It has strong antibacterial properties and has served humans as food and medicine for millennia.
- Honey reduces irritation in the throat and other tissues.
- Pollen and propolis are what makes honey so medicinal. Propolis is a powerful antibiotic, antifungal, and antiviral. While bees use it to protect their homes, we enjoy it in honey while supporting our immune system and health.
The herbs I use to infuse the vinegar are warming, antibacterial and antiviral, immune-boosting, and circulatory stimulants.
Fire Cider Oxymel
Ingredients:
1 bulb garlic, peeled and chopped
1 medium size ginger root, peeled and chopped
1-2 Tbsp black pepper
2-3 inches of horseradish, peeled and chopped
3-4 cayenne peppers
Small bunch of rosemary, thyme, and sage
Apple cider vinegar
Raw honey, optional and to taste
Directions:
- Place all ingredients in a glass jar and pour apple cider vinegar to cover the herbs and spices. Cover tightly with a lid.
- Let infuse at room temperature for at least two weeks. Shake the mixture daily or whenever you remember.
- After two weeks of infusing, you can strain as much liquid as you’d like into a separate glass jar. Add more apple cider vinegar to the remaining herbs. And continue infusing. You can repeat this step several times, but you’ll need to infuse for longer than two weeks to ensure the potency. I sometimes let the herbs infuse for as long as a year.
- You can drink the liquid as is (it would be called just Fire Cider), or you can add an equal volume of honey and turn it into an Oxymel.
- Take a teaspoon of Fire Cider daily to prevent colds and flu. Or, at the onset of a cold, take a teaspoon or a tablespoon every four hours.
- Store in an air-tight jar at room temperature for months and even years.
Freedom from hunger and cravings until lunch
Please tell me where I should send the recipe book.